Whether you’re a teacher presenting a PowerPoint slide show to colleagues, parents, or students or if you’re teaching students how to give a dynamic presentation to their peers, following are ten tips to keep your audience hooked! Animating a presentation creatively can keep viewers engaged and interested.

Use a variety of animation types
There are lots of types of animation effects: an entrance effect makes an object appear, an emphasis effect draws attention to an object, a motion path makes an object move in a selected path on a slide, and an exit effect causes objects vanish. Consider adding more than one animation to an object – it can appear on the scene using a zoom entrance, then pulse using an emphasis effect, move around using a motion path, and finally fly out using an exit animation.
Be careful though. The variety of animations should not be unlimited. A repeated animation gives consistency to a presentation. For example, text on all slides always appearing the same way lends a professional touch to the presentation.

Plan the order of appearance of objects and text
What should show up first? second? third? Usually, you would start with the title, then text, then pictures. If there is a picture of a character and a callout with what he is saying, the picture should appear first, then the words. Sequence the animations in a logical order for what is on the slide.

Consider the audience when choosing animation effects
Lots of fun, exciting effects such as Boomerang, Bounce, Pinwheel are appropriate for younger children watching a slide show with lots of pictures, while presentations with text for adults would suit more moderate animations such as Fade, Wipe, or Float.

Group objects
If you want several objects to animate at one time, group them. To do this, click on a slide object and hold down the SHIFT key. Click on the other objects you want to include in the group. Once they are all selected, select Group.

Control flow of information
If there is bulleted text on the slide, the bullets should appear one point at a time. If no animation is applied and text appears all at once, people may read ahead and tune out extra information provided by the speaker. If the text is animated, ensure that there is ample time to read the words. Although you are familiar with your own slide show, remember that most viewers will be seeing it for the first time, and need extra time to read the words and watch the action.

Suit the type of animation to the topic
Pick appropriate effects. For example, a bounce effect works for a ball but not a car. Spinning text is confusing; appear, fade, and object color effects work better for words.

Choose effect options
Animation effects often have a number of options which can be adjusted in most apps. The type of options such as direction, speed, or color, vary with the particular type of effect. For example, you can choose to have text float in from the top or bottom. Not all animation effects have options.

Manual or automatic?
Decide if you want to control the animations manually – use the On Click start action – or automatically – choose After Previous. Some apps, such as PowerPoint, allow you to change how an animation starts, how long it plays, and if there is a delay between effects. Some apps, such as Google Slides, set the speed as slow, medium, or fast. Make sure the animations play slowly enough so that a first time viewer is not confused by the action.

Make objects appear and disappear
When animating more than one text box on a slide, you can make them show and then vanish, one at a time. In this way, you can have several text boxes placed on top of one another, yet appear separately and then disappear. This is perfect when characters speaking or debating. A conversation can be animated on one slide.

Don’t animate everything
Animating a presentation should attract viewer interest, not distract them. Clip art that is scenery such as a building or tree may look odd zooming onto the slide.

Have fun with animation using these TechnoKids technology projects.

Use TechnoPresenter to teach essential research and presentation skills. Students create a slide show on any topic of their choice, then build public speaking skills as their present to their peers.

In TechnoToon, students create a digital story that looks like a cartoon or animated comic strip. Inspire young writers and budding artists using Google Slides or PowerPoint.

Take a stand! Students collaborate with a partner to debate the pros and cons of a controversial issue of their choice in TechnoDebate. They use Google Slides or PowerPoint Online to prepare an animated debate.

Are you teaching a blogging unit? Commenting is a new social skill. Often people make mistakes because they do not know the rules or etiquette for how to communicate. Have your students be good digital citizens. Here is some advice on “how to comment” that you can pass onto students:

Think before you comment. In a face-to-face conversation what you say is not recorded for everyone to hear later. However, your comments can remain on the Internet for a long time and anyone can read them. Avoid regret! Think before you type.

Say something meaningful. What you write should add to the conversation. A comment should offer encouragement, make a connection, ask a question, offer advice, or state an opinion.

Be polite. You should not swear, hurl insults, act mean, or take over the conversation. If you do, you are likely to have your comments deleted or you will be banned from commenting.

Only write something you would say in person. When commenting, it is easy to forget that the blogger and fellow readers are real people because you cannot see their face. It is a good idea to write as if the person can see you.

Write comments that reflect you in a positive way. Your comments tell people about who you are. For example, if you write something encouraging, people will think you are kind or if you offer some advice, people will think you are helpful. But if you write something mean, insulting, or hateful, people will think you are a bully or rude.

Follow the commenting tips.

Stay on topic. Your comments should be about the blog post. If you write something unrelated to the topic, it shows that you did not read the article.

Be clear. Write exactly what you mean. In a face-to-face conversation tone of voice, facial expressions, hand gestures, and body stance help convey meaning. When you comment visual cues are not available. For this reason, make sure readers understand your message.

Avoid sarcasm. You do not want people to think you are rude. Even if you add to your comment LOL (laugh out loud) or JK (just kidding) your comment may still be hurtful to another person because they misunderstand your tone.

Be concise. A comment should only be a few words or sentences. If you have a lot to say, write your own blog post then include a hyperlink to it as part of your comment.

Assume everyone can read your comment. You might think your comment is private and it can only be read by your friends or the people in your school. However, since your comments are digital they can be copied and shared with others, without your permission. For this reason, never write anything that you do not want to be public.